This article is borrowed by the site www.10percent.gr . My friend christina did a great job :)

Watch out. This article is going to shake you.

of Christina Neofotistou

How many sexes exist? Does sexual orientation have anything to do with the (generally) sex? How man is a man? What makes a woman woman? Christina Neophotistou gives us a lesson about the sex.

If you really want to read this article, then you should empty your mind from the ideas you have about sexuality and sexes. Otherwise you are going to get shocked.

First of all; the social sex is one thing, the biological sex is another one; another one is the sexual orientation. Another thing is man, another thing is masculine. Another thing is woman, another thing is feminine. Let's see what everything means.

What is the social sex?

The social sex is the social differences between the two sexes, in contrast with the biological differences. It's how you see yourself SOCIALLY: as a man, as a woman or with characters of both man and woman. The term GENDER is commonly used to describe the social sex.

The term gender includes all the social behaviors and the social characteristics(such as attitude/poise, the way we speak, the way we think, the way we walk, the use of language, the way we dress, the haircuts etc) which are believed to be exclusive or dominant for every sex. A lot of people believe that these differences and the characteristics originate <> from the biological sex(or else sex, chromosomes). However, this is not true. These rules are formed and asserted from each society. Men and women BECOME wen and women, they are not born ones. What <> male of female attitude is formed from every society. That why it is included in the term gender.

The rules of the social sex are austere and a big part of the society believes that they must not be trespassed. This, however, does not mean that they are unchangeable. Depending on the society and the age, pink color can be <> color instead of <>, like in America 1920. Women can have the right to wear pantaloons, men can have the right(or be obligated) to wear make up and powdered wigs(renaissance) etc

Every person has a gender identity. The gender identity is formed in very early age. Almost everybody, since the time we are born, try very hard and constantly to include us to the one or the other gender, with rewards and punishments, when our behavior obliques to the other gender. When we first see a child in arms, the fight thing we ask is: is it a boy or a girl. This information plays a HUGE role on how we are going to behave to it, like experiments show.

The most basic, ultimate belief of people for themselves is their gender. The gender usually agrees with the sex they were categorized when they were born. A man can have a male biological sex and be heterosexual, but the characteristics of his social behavior or expression can belong more to the female gender( a feminine boy in other words). Likewise, a woman can have a female biological sex and be heterosexual but the characteristics of her social behavior or expression can belong more to the male gender( a masculine girl in other words).

Most of us are expressed as men or women, which are the two accepted genders. The gender they categorized us at birth, based on our <>.( the typical XX or XY chromosomes). Not very long ago, the common belief was that the biological sex defined the social sex and that only two sexes and two genders existed.

They are a lot of people categories, for who the separation of their (biological) sex to boy/girl is not so clear, like transsexual and intersexed people. This proves that more than two sexes exist. Transgender people prove that not only the gender won't follow the sex, but also that more than two genders exist.

Intersexed people are those people whom their chromosomes which define the sex (XX for girl and XY for boy) won't agree with their sexual organs or/and with their out appearance. It is considered at about the 2% of the society. A woman can find out that she has male chromosomes and a man female, without even having problem with their sex/gender. Or they can never find out. Most intersexed people are raised as boys or girls, because that's what their organs and their appearance orders. Although these people can <> against the sex they have been classed.

Are gender and sexual orientation connected?

The second most basic belief that people have for themselves is the sexual orientation, meaning the sex(not the gender!) they prefer for lovers(homo-, hetero-, bi- sexual orientation).

Usually, but now always, the gender identity agrees with the sexual orientation. For example, a male person has a male gender and prefers women for lovers (heterosexual). But, he can be a male person and have a male gender and prefer men as lovers (homosexual)

Also, a person can have a sex identity <> despite the fact that when it was born it was recognized as boy. She may have or she may not have gotten in the procedure to change her body and she may prefer women as lovers. So her sex is female and her sexual orientation is homosexual, which means that she is a lesbian.

Trans+gender = transgender. It's simple!

Transgender behaviors are the ones that surpass the rules of the every gender. It's a very general term and includes a lot of people: feminine men, masculine women, butch and femme lesbians, straight or gay, drag king and drag queens who use the gender as political expression or as entertainment, transsexual people etc THE TERM TRANSGENDER HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE SEXUAL ORIENTATION. It has to do with the confusion and the encroachment of the outer, social behavior of the sex, meaning the typical male and female behavior.

The sub category transsexual is better for the sub category of these transgender people that have a permanent sex/gender identity opposite to their biological sex. More simply, the FEEL boys or girls despite of their gender or their gender identity, despite of their being masculine or feminine, also despite of their sexual orientation. They may want to make some drastical changes on their bodies..

A person can have a sex/gender identity <>, despite the fact that when he was born it was set and raised as a <>. It may have or may not have changed its body and want men as lovers. So, it is a gay trans man.

When we say trans woman or trans man we always mean the final sex and not the previous. A lot of trans people won't even put the word trans in front of their sex; its simple men or women.

Some more familiar combinations are these; a) a person was born and raised as a <>, but it is and feels girl and it like boys. So she is a heterosexual girl (her gender would probably be the female one). B) person that was born and raised as <> but it's a boy and he likes girls. So he is a heterosexual boy(his gender would probably be the male one)..

THE TRANS IDENTITY IS NOT AN EXTREME <

>, AS IT IS BELIEVED. A trans girl <>, and a trans man <>. He/she changed sex (the biological sex) so that his/her body may be in harmony with what he/she feels it is. It's something he/she did for his/her inner calmness, despite of what he/she may want in his/her bed. It's an identity that has to do with how a person feels and how he/she wants to self define better, in a sex which makes him/her feel better..

A man is not a man because he goes with women, a woman is not a woman because she goes with men. Also, a man that goes with men is not a woman and a woman that goes with men is not a man. Defining the sex of a person basing on the sex of his/her partner, it's stupid, naοve and scientific unsupported.

Why does the trans subject confuse us?

The transgender issue causes a lot of controversy in a big part of the society, because it is confused with homosexuality but also because its very deep believed that the sexes <>.

This opinion is proven wrong and its philosophical base is something that is called essentialism. It's about a theory that accepts that there is a magical, bodiless essence which makes a person something that can't change. It's the theory that it is used to <> the superiority of some sexes against some others or that the homosexual behavior <>.

These people won't understand that the greatest differences between the two basic sexes(besides the sexual organs) are social and not <>. The male and female persons, the boys and girls in other words, become men and women copying the behaviors of the men and women around us. (through the reward or punishment from the others). A trans girl who behaves girly has copied the behavior of the women in her environment, the gestures and the social dynamics. The average person thins that this girl(who <>) is a <> that copies the women. The thing is that the other girls too, the non trans ones, also copy the behavior of the women around them and pretend to be women. The same thing occurs for boys and men too. The kids pretend to be women or men, (whether they are trans or no trans) and with that way they socialize in order to become accepted women or men in the society. The masculinity of the femininity are NOT BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS, but products of social training , products of copying behaviors and social roles or stereotypes. The idea that our sexual organs make us men or women falls under the theory of the essentialism and of the magical, non logical thinking.

What does this mean?

Women are not born <>, <>, <>. Men are not born <>, <> and with <>. The feminism theory attacked at these wrong ideas, supporting that biology is not destiny. Today, we have even more proof that the biology won't define with a magical way neither our social position nor our job, and yes, neither our sex/gender. The expression of the sex/gender identity, how everybody feels, is a right that is gained everyday as the beliefs and the dogmas of the past fade away.

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